Texty Pillow: Merry & Bright

December 18, 2012

Since first seeing this pillowin a catalog mailer over a month ago, I’ve been blabbing my mouth to Scott about the pillow I’ll make for us – it’ll be just like it! It’ll be Christmas-y and cheery, and it’ll hang in our living room all season long. This make believe pillow fit in with my idyllic holiday decor, and we’ll lounge our nights away surrounded by twinkling lights, wearing fluffy slippers and sipping on eggnog. Oh, my. So for reference, here’s the inspiration:

But forget buying that pillow. Ha! I’ll make the pillow! Sure, the real deal is less than $20, but DIY is more fun, more personal.

In any case, we’re not lounging away our evenings or drinking eggnog, but the pillow has been birthed. And it is Christmas-y and cheery. But all season long? Well, it was DIY-ed just yesterday:

For the last month, I’d been collecting the bits I’d need since first seeing my inspiration item, and if I’d just sat down and made it, it could’ve been done a long, long time ago. (Ah, well!) The good news is that it’s super easy, I didn’t sew a lick (we all know by now that is not something I do), and it only took an hour from start to finish – with the text taking the longest. It’s much more minimal than the source, but it’s much more Kim & Scott, too.

After obnoxiously talking to Scott about my really simple idea (and believe me, he was thrilled to be discussing pillows for nights on end!), we agreed that a classic flannel/plaid fabric would look timeless, yet still feel cheery and holiday-like. And broken in, super soft flannel would be even better! So we picked up the comfiest, coziest XL shirt at our local thrift store for $1, and the buttons would act as our envelope enclosure. Less “sewing” for me, and it’s certainly more interesting.

For our front fabric, I used a 1/2 yard of a neutral, khaki linen I had on hand. Of course this led to the next never-ending round of conversation – what should it say? For simplicity’s sake, we agreed on “be merry & bright,” that is, after throwing around “all I want for Christmas is you” (too obvious, although ILU, Mariah!) or “I’ve got my love to keep me warm” (too long).

There are a dozen other phrases we would’ve been happy with, so that just means there’ll be more pillows down the road. Pillows for every room! (Oh, wait, we already do that.)

I Pinterest-ed and Googled around for ways to get our text on the pillow, and this tutorial was not only the easiest, but it was the cheapest. Win-win! Using a pencil, I traced my words carefully in the middle of my fabric, and I used an ironed-in crease for my line to keep things straight:

Then I filled it in, carefully, with a fabric marker. Afterwards, I measured out from the text on all sides to get the size of my pillow form. I used an 18″ form, and I kept my fabric the same size, which would keep the finished case nice and full once I hemmed all the sides. By measuring out from the text, I was able to keep it centered.

Next, I measured an 18″ square from the front of my thrifted shirt, since the buttons would act as the envelope enclosure.

To “stitch” it all together, I laid my two pieces of fabric face-to-face, so that the text side touched the button side. Using Stitch Witchery, I cut a strip for all 4 sides and laid it between my fabric, using a damp cloth between my hot iron and the fabric itself. (These instructions came straight from the hem tape package. No news here!)

After 15-30 seconds on each section of my hem tape, everything was secured, and I turned the case right side out and put my pillow form inside. Done! For those that worry the hem tape might come loose, well, almost everything that’s been hemmed in our home has been done so with Stitch Witchery. (Er, everything but my jeans; those go to my alterations pal across the street.)

Here’s how the back turned out, and while it’s not meant to sit this way, it could still be cute if we get a little lazy with Operation Holiday Pack-Up.

Naturally, everything looks better with a kitty next to it. (Hi, Maddie Baby!)

We love that you can see the cozy, flannel back from the front and sides (just a peek!) – and it even balances out our red floor lamp across the room. Happy accident!

I love that it still has the pocket on it, and Lindsey’s idea for the Hawaiian shirt. E does a lot with Stitch Witchery (did you know he was the crafty one in our home?), but I never thought about making pillows. I think we could use some more for the pups this winter.ReplyCancel